they能指代物么？

chenbingyz

请教各位大侠：
At the annual stockholders meeting, investors heard a presentation on the numerous challenges facing the company, including among them the threat from a rival’s multibillion-dollar patent-infringement suit and the declining sales for the company’s powerful microprocessor chip.

A.including among them the threat from a rival’s multibillion-dollar patent-infringement suit and the declining sales for

B.which includesthe threat of a rival’s multibillion-dollar patent-infringement suit and declining sales of

C.included among these the threat from a rival’s multibillion-dollar patent-infringement suit as well as a decline in sales for

D.among themthe threat of a rival’s multibillion-dollar patent-infringement suit and the decline in sales of
E.among these the threat from a rival’s multibillion-dollar patent-infringement suit as well as the decline in sales for
这题的正确答案是D，可是我不大理解them能指代物。them是they的宾格，应该指代人吧？
谢谢！

abjure

我没看这道题，
单从语法角度上来讲
可以的. them, ones, 都可以指代人和物。
你说的callenges 是属于 abstract noun， 可以用来指代。 LZ反过来想想，假如不用他们，那需要用代词指代的时候要该用什么来指代呢

those/these 作为指示代词 一般不可以裸奔（极端平行的条件下除外。）
即 those challenges/ these challenges etc.

chenbingyz

谢谢！
不过我一直以为them作为they的宾格，只能指代人或动物之类，不能指代challenges.

wendydou

them 可以指代他们，她们and它们